The Academy Award winning documentary, “The Panama Deception”, was released on July 31, 1992. The 1989 invasion of Panama by the US was termed “Operation Just Cause” by the Bush Administration; according to the documentary’s director, Barbara Trent, the invasion was far from a just cause. Trent alleged that US troops killed up to 4,000 Panamanian men and buried them secretly in mass graves while reporting that only 250 civilians died. The documentary further implies that the invasion was really launched so that the US could renege on its treaty that handed control over the Panama Canal back to the Panamanian government. The film also suggests that the US military used the invasion to test new secret weaponry to prepare for the Gulf War.